Brother, how come you're a witch?

"Don't think you can bribe me with just a few pieces of egg yolk cake."

Ning Jiu covered her mouth, her cheeks puffed out, making her look like a squirrel, hard to believe she was actually a rabbit.

"One more piece!"

She stretched out her small hand, still covered in egg yolk crumbs, and spread it out in front of Ye Jingqiu.

The little swordsman expressionlessly turned the bag upside down, shook it, then crumpled it into a ball and handed it to her.

"Is that all?"

Ning Jiu clutched the empty, deflated oil paper bag, utterly disappointed.

"If you hadn't shared it, you could have eaten more."

Su Yan pointed to the wolf pack around him. With so many mouths, each wolf ate most of the bag in one bite, barely getting a taste.

"How can that be? They are my family. If I eat a bite, they have to eat a bite too," Ning Jiu said earnestly.

Su Yan touched his chin and realized it was true.

Just now, Ning Jiu did indeed take a bite herself, and then randomly fed a bite to a wolf, repeating this process.

"So you two have a pretty good relationship. Didn't Mo Yu say you two were always fighting?" Su Yan said with a smile.

"Sister Mo Yu even told you this?"

"It's written on the files on the table in your room."

"I can't read."

Ning Jiu shook her head:

"How is Sister Mo Yu?"

"this......"

Su Yan suddenly didn't know how to answer. Since no one knew of Ning Jiu's existence, then naturally no one would notify her after Mo Yu's accident.

"snort."

Ning Jiu gave a soft hum, lowered her eyes, and hugged her knees with her greasy hands:

"Actually, I already know even if you don't say it, Sister Mo Yu is already dead."

Why?

"If a wolf doesn't come back after a long time, Sister Moyu will take me to look for it. Sometimes we can find its body, and sometimes we can't find anything at all."

Ning Jiu slightly turned her shoulder and leaned against the large white wolf king lying next to her:

"Sister Mo Yu often says that she's no different from us... She hasn't been back for a long time."

Su Yan sighed inwardly, wanting to pat the little rabbit on the shoulder and say "condolences," but suddenly felt Ye Jingqiu's gaze linger on his wrist for a moment, so he withdrew his hand that he had just raised.

"So... what exactly is your relationship with Sister Mo Yu?"

Ning Jiu sniffed and turned her bloodshot eyes to look at Su Yan:

How did you know I lived here?

"I don't actually know her, but I'm looking for the person who harmed her."

Su Yan shook his head; now that things had come to this, he had to lay his cards on the table.

"Do you want revenge?"

"I...of course I want to!"

Ning Jiu suddenly sat up straight, staring intently at Su Yan:

"But what should I do?"

"Tell me in detail what happened the night you escaped from Guanyu Valley, and the characteristics of the person who corrupted you into a half-demon a year ago."

Su Yan finally managed to pull Ning Jiu into the topic he wanted to discuss.

"That night, well, the scout wolf reported seeing several dark beasts that smelled very much like me hiding in the cave. Sister Mo Yu said those beasts were monsters, so I went to take a look, and saw..."

Ning Jiu raised her eyes, wanting to tell what she had seen, but she couldn't bring herself to mention the fact that "someone was with a monster."

It was as if a dark aura was tightly gripping her throat, forcing her to only recount the general sequence of events that Liu Baishuang had pre-planned:

"...After seeing the monster, I ran away, encountered a male cultivator, fought with him, and then ran to a cliff..."

"Okay, I know the rest, and it's pretty much what I guessed."

Su Yan interrupted Ning Jiu, gesturing for her to skip this part and talk about something else.

"Oh, I ran into those monsters again when I came back. They chased me and bit me. They were really unfriendly."

Ning Jiu nodded, and only after finishing recounting the words about the contamination Liu Baishuang had implanted in her body did she begin to speak about other things:

"As for that thing that corrupted me, it's not human... it just looks like a black blob."

"A clump?"

"Yeah, it's like a black cloud. It has no face and can't speak, but when it gets close to me, I can't move and can only let it pour things into my mouth."

Ning Jiu shrank back, seemingly still feeling lingering fear:

"I was still a rabbit back then, but after drinking it for a while, I suddenly turned into a human and gained intelligence. I started to feel scared. I desperately used my teleportation talent to run far away, but I still almost died. Luckily, Sister Mo Yu found me."

"You actually ran away on your own?"

Su Yan raised an eyebrow, quite surprised.

The one capable of corrupting living beings must be a celestial demon, and for Ning Jiu to be able to escape from it with her abilities is truly illogical.

Unless, of course, that demon is very weak.

Thinking about it this way, it's even more likely that this Heavenly Demon came from the future. Only those born with all five spiritual roots can easily traverse the turbulent flow of time. Even Li Changsheng, who had only four spiritual roots, was severely injured when he traveled through time, so the Heavenly Demon should be the same.

But it's already so weak, why would it waste its power to corrupt Ning Jiu? And even use some means to help Ning Jiu take human form ahead of time?

The mystery remains, and it will be difficult to figure it out unless we directly find that demon and ask it.

"Yanshan... But a year has passed, the Heavenly Demon should no longer be there." Su Yan frowned.

"When I'm competing, I can take the opportunity to look for any clues."

Ye Jingqiu suddenly spoke.

"A competition? The Ultimate Sword Cultivator Challenge?" Su Yan turned around.

"Yes, one of the checkpoints is in Yanshan."

Ye Jingqiu nodded and took out a flyer from her pocket. She actually carried it with her at all times, which showed that she really valued it.

"However, I don't think there will be any results. There will be people stationed at the checkpoints of the challenge, and the surrounding area will be cleared in advance to ensure that there is no danger beyond the limits. The fact that there is no news of the challenge being postponed or the route being changed means that the checkers at Yanshan did not find anything unusual."

"I think so too."

Su Yan said helplessly.

After Mo Yu was killed, the sect must have checked it once, but it seems they didn't find anything.

The Heavenly Demon is still around, and has even become active again recently.

The Xuanqing Sect doesn't take this seriously at all. According to Li Changsheng, they've only sent out elders and search teams to investigate secretly, without any determination to dig deep.

Su Yan pondered, "Why don't we create a big news event and mobilize the entire sect to capture the Heavenly Demon?"

This will definitely damage the reputation of Xuanqing Sect, affecting the next round of recruitment and the overall ranking of sects in the entire cultivation world. If he, as the instigator, is not completely absolved, he will absolutely be in deep trouble.

Just as Su Yan was thinking about sacrificing his personal interests for the greater good.

Ye Jingqiu moved closer to Ning Jiu with a cold face. The latter shrank back and asked guiltily:

"W-what are you doing?"

There's something I'm curious about.

Ye Jingqiu's tone was icy, and those unfamiliar with her always felt pressured by it.

"The area patrolled by the Bloodfang White Wolves here is too large. The wolf den is in the center of Guanyu Valley, but we encountered the little white wolf on the edge, which does not match what is said in the book."

This girl really did secretly flip through the book... Su Yan's lips twitched, and he also spared some attention to listen.

"Why are you asking me this?" Ning Jiu didn't really want to talk to Ye Jingqiu.

"They can't express very complex meanings, but you can speak human language."

Ye Jingqiu bent down slightly and stared into Ning Jiu's eyes.

Su Yan knew this was her way of expressing curiosity, but to others, it was a threat.

"Gulp... I, I'll tell you, okay?"

Ning Jiu's shoulders trembled:

"Because Sister Mo Yu taught us not to abandon the weak, the wolf pack will support disabled wolves and old wolves who are unable to hunt, as they have a great need for food."

"In the past, we maintained a normal hunting range, and with fishing and Sister Mo Yu's assistance, we were able to barely keep everyone fed."

"But... two months ago, the number of fish in the water suddenly started to decrease, so we had to expand our hunting area."

Ye Jingqiu nodded slightly:

"After the fishing ban was implemented in Guanyu Valley, are people secretly fishing?"

"I don't know, I've never seen it, and I don't know where the fish went." Ning Jiu shook her head.

"Could it be that they starved to death because no anglers were providing free fish food...? Wait a minute."

Su Yan frowned, sensing that things were not so simple:

"Two months ago?"

Isn't that the time when he just traveled back in time?